I find myself asking this question a lot lately.
As I, myself, am defined as part of Gen Y*, and as I daily rub shoulders on the college campus with other Gen Y'ers, I've found myself really questioning if spirituality even seems relevant to our generation.
Spirituality and topics of "other worldliness" appear to have quietly faded into the periphery, while apathy and things concerning merely the here-and-now emerge to center stage.
We easily and readily exchange dialogue about our family, our friends, our desire to help people, what we did over the weekend, the latest Jersey Shore scandal, how our boyfriend or girlfriend most recently dropped the ball, whatever. Conversations seem to cover the gamut -- however, seeemingly stop just short of readily discussing our thoughts about the immaterial, about God, about belief, about eternity, about what we believe happens after death, about whether or not we think prayer works or is a total crock, etc.
King Solomon once wrote (recorded in the Bible) that he believed God has written eternity on the heart of every human. Solomon believed every human was created with a longing in their heart to investigate the immaterial, the "other worldliness," the unseen, the spiritual.
Being a Gen Y, eavesdropping on other Gen Ys, and engaging the Gen Y day in and day out, this thought from Solomon seemed to be my only hope. It seemed as if no one actually really felt like spirituality was relevant -- and so in the midst of believing our generation's spiritual interest was crumbling, I found myself merely clinging (and it felt like for dear life) to this thought from Solomon. The reality of my conversations and of surrounding conversations didn't seem to validate Solomon's belief. It wasn't natural, but I was deliberately choosing to believe these words in the Bible to be true.
But, I am finding good news!
UCLA has recently released a study indicating, after surveying 400,000 students, that college students are growing more interested in spirituality. Roughly half of those 400,000 students indicated they believed integrating spirituality into their lives was "very important" or "essential." Over a third of those 400,000 participants claimed their beliefs had strengthened since when first entering college.
Another study, surveying close to 3,400 high school and college students, indicated 22.9% of these individuals reported becoming more "religious" during the two years preceding the study.
According to another major study, Generation Y seems to break down as follows:
48% believe in a god
32% are unsure if there's a god
20% do not believe in a god
[two-thirds of those who are unsure about a god or do not believe in a god, do believe in a higher being or life force]
In regards to religion,
44% of Gen Y'ers claim Christianity
31% claim Humanism
17% claim "Eclectic" (believing in 2 or more New Age, esoteric, or Eastern beliefs)
Of the 44% who claim Christianity, only 19% are actively* involved in a church. Religion is more and more being viewed as a private matter; a significant portion of those 44% who identify as Christian are choosing to move away from any identification with a church.
USAToday's recent article indicates 72% of Gen Y'ers are "more spiritual than religious."
These, among many other findings, are good news to me.
I am encouraged that the numbers actually show our generation as spiritually inquisitive (and many believe moreso than ever).
Spiritual inquisitiveness has recently taken on a different look with our generation than generations before. However different, the curiosity and questions still arise. Turns out, King Solomon was right.
Here's my beef with our current culture, however, if I may.
Our generation is filled with individuals going to bed at the end of the day, plagued with questions, doubts, curiosities, wonderings, etc. Our generation is filled with individuals who boast in anonymity as they use the internet to find answers to their questions. Our generation is filled with individuals who, out of fear, don't bring up spiritual conversations with their friends.
With a generation whose souls are possibly the most spiritually inquisitive the world has ever seen, lesser and lesser meaningful spiritual conversations are taking place between friends. In a culture where we advocate "tolerance," believe in universalism, and regard spirituality as a "private matter," how will our spiritually curious generation ever find answers? How will we ever find satisfaction or truth if we continue viewing spirituality as taboo and impolite to talk about?
Statistics, indeed, indicate spirituality as relevant to Generation Y.
So why are we not talking about it? Why are we not able to engage in discussion that may simply end in civil disagreement? Why are we so afraid to engage the deepest things of life with our dearest friends? Why are we so fearful of openly questioning? Why are we muting this longing in our heart that cries out for eternal things and significance?
I'm not quite sure how we got here as a generation. But, I am quite sure that I want to be a change agent. I want to be a person who creates environments and welcomes people to share their honest thoughts on spirituality. I want to be disarming. I want to have 2-way conversations with fellow Gen Y'ers -- hearing (really hearing) others' thoughts and getting to share my own. I want to be a woman who isn't afraid to address the taboo topic -- because if the numbers are right, it seems clear people are indeed thinking about the immaterial, the "other worldliness," the unseen, the spiritual.
The quieter we, as a generation, are on this topic, the more and more disservice we do to our friends, our communities, our future, our world at-large.
May we embrace the taboo and engage in meaningful conversations. May we stop muting this longing in our heart -- and instead, respond to it with conversation.
The journey is much more fun when traveled together. Let's travel together. (Or at least humor me and/or bless me by engaging with me on these things).
*Generation Y: those born between 1977-1997. (Also referred to as Millenials, Generation Next, or Echo Boomers).
*actively: defined as attending church once a month or more
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